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Polymers
Volume 18
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10.3390/polym18040515
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Article

Self-Assembled (Nano)Structures of Human Serum Albumin with Thermoresponsive Chitosan-g-PNIPAM Graft Copolymer

by
Florin Bucatariu
1,
Larisa-Maria Petrila
1,
Timeea-Anastasia Ciobanu
1,
Marius-Mihai Zaharia
1,
Stergios Pispas
1,2 and
Marcela Mihai
1,*
1
Petru Poni Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, 41A Grigore Ghica Voda Alley, 700487 Iasi, Romania
2
Theoretical and Physical Chemistry Institute, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 48 Vassileos Constantinou Ave., 116 35 Athens, Greece
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Polymers 2026, 18(4), 515; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym18040515
Submission received: 4 February 2026 / Revised: 17 February 2026 / Accepted: 18 February 2026 / Published: 19 February 2026
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthetic-Biological Hybrid Polymers and Co-Assembled Nanostructures)
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Abstract

Protein–polyelectrolyte entities (complex, coacervates, flocs, gels, etc.) are of great interest due to their potential applications in biological and medical fields. This study focuses on investigating the interactions between a model protein, human serum albumin (HSA) and a newly synthesized hybrid thermoresponsive copolymer based on chitosan polysaccharide grafted with poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) synthetic polymer chains (Chit-g-PNIPAM), in aqueous media, by mixing the individual component aqueous solutions. Depending on the mixing molar ratio and the order of addition of the two components (protein and copolymer), either stable nanostructured suspension or macrostructures’ phase separation have been observed. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) results reveal that the Chit-g-PNIPAM/HSAx (molar ratio 5:x, where x = 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 and 15) nanostructures’ and HSA/Chit-g-PNIPAMx (molar ratio 100:x, where x = 1, 2, 3, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50) structures’ formation depend on the molar ratio of the two components as well as on the order of addition, with first component amount being kept constant in aqueous solution and second component solution added drop-by-drop in the solution of the first component. Additional information regarding the thermoresponsiveness and stability vs time of the formed (nano)structures were acquired using turbidimetry and DLS measurements.
Keywords: chitosan; human serum albumin; nanostructures; thermoresponsive chitosan; human serum albumin; nanostructures; thermoresponsive

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MDPI and ACS Style

Bucatariu, F.; Petrila, L.-M.; Ciobanu, T.-A.; Zaharia, M.-M.; Pispas, S.; Mihai, M. Self-Assembled (Nano)Structures of Human Serum Albumin with Thermoresponsive Chitosan-g-PNIPAM Graft Copolymer. Polymers 2026, 18, 515. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym18040515

AMA Style

Bucatariu F, Petrila L-M, Ciobanu T-A, Zaharia M-M, Pispas S, Mihai M. Self-Assembled (Nano)Structures of Human Serum Albumin with Thermoresponsive Chitosan-g-PNIPAM Graft Copolymer. Polymers. 2026; 18(4):515. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym18040515

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bucatariu, Florin, Larisa-Maria Petrila, Timeea-Anastasia Ciobanu, Marius-Mihai Zaharia, Stergios Pispas, and Marcela Mihai. 2026. "Self-Assembled (Nano)Structures of Human Serum Albumin with Thermoresponsive Chitosan-g-PNIPAM Graft Copolymer" Polymers 18, no. 4: 515. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym18040515

APA Style

Bucatariu, F., Petrila, L.-M., Ciobanu, T.-A., Zaharia, M.-M., Pispas, S., & Mihai, M. (2026). Self-Assembled (Nano)Structures of Human Serum Albumin with Thermoresponsive Chitosan-g-PNIPAM Graft Copolymer. Polymers, 18(4), 515. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym18040515

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